Fastest car
Unlike many other men, I am not a car enthusiast. Which is fortunate, because with the income of a cartoonist, that would make me a very unsatisfied man. But maybe that’s part of a psychological trick that my mind plays on me, to not covet things that I would never be able to afford anyway. I am sure that if I won the lottery, I would buy a better car. Still, I’d probably go for a dad-mobile, like a minivan or something, where I could fit in the whole family, the bikes, the toys, etc. without having to play tetris.
The thing that I would probably enjoy most about having a good car is that it wouldn’t get so noisy when I’m driving on the highway. Anything above 100km/h and I can’t even have a phone conversation anymore.
Does anyone of you have a particularly noteworthy ride? I know my brother has one. Unlike Chuck, he drives a really old Toyota pickup truck which probably almost counts as an old-timer by now.
I drive a 1973 VW Bug, which I’ve made quite a few modifications to. Certainly won’t be a “fastest car” against much, but it sure is fun to drive.
When you drive more then 100 km/h, you shouldn’t handle a phone conversation, but pay attention to the road. Doesn’t matter what car you are driving. It is even more dangerous then Chuck in any kind of vehicle.
Well, I’d rather have a TBM 910 or 930 over a nice car any day. I bet it even has enough power to do a barrel roll while pouring coffee.
Honda Civic type R 2015. The fastest thing you can buy if you don’t have lots of money. Not that expensive to buy (30k€ new if you know how to find good deals), not expensive to own (Honda reliability means no maintenance expenses, and only 10l/100km when you drive wild). The Lamborghini gallardo has the next time slower on the nurburgring track, doesn’t have 4 doors nor a large trunk, and is definitely not in the same range for expenses….
Can you imagine a 152 with a hellcat engine…
I drive a Fiat Ducato, minimally equipped as a camper. Like Johsua I’d rather spend money on a plane than on a car; and in both I prefer utility value over speed or good looks. The Ducato can go 180 km/h on its 180HP engine, but I usually drive it at some 100-110, for fuel economy.
Currently I have a ’98 Nissan 4×4 Pickup. Not fast in most regards.
Speed in a car often has little to do with how fast someone can get there.
Once, long ago when I found any speed limit an annoyance, I had a ’76 Dodge Colt (not fast, but handled well for a $25 car . . . yes, twenty five 1986 dollars).
I was way east of New Orleans (Chalmette) and realized my then girl friend had to be home in a half hour on the other side of the N.O. Metroplex. A trip that in traffic lurking near the speed limit, took 40 minutes or so. Once on Interstate 10, a hotrod decided to “race” me and boy was he fast. He passed me like I was standing still . . . 5 times before we exited. Every time he got around me, he misread traffic, had to slow down and I passed him again. I was just concerned with getting her home because house rules had it every minute late was a week of being home an hour earlier than house curfew, two hours on Saturday (she was in a church group run state home for girls).
We sat in the parking lot kissing and talking for 10 minutes before she had to go in, and we could have gotten away with a minute or two as the lady running things saw us pull in and waved because she really liked me for some reason (likely because even if I took a group of the girls with me, everyone came back in time, and not in trouble. they “broke” a lot of the house rules for me in the time we dated and she lived there)
As for Unlike many other men , I see around me only older people – men as well as women – take pride in their car, or discussing their friends’. The smart phone seems to have taken the place of the car as a symbol of status or of beibng ‘with the times’.
Jan has a point. At my private pilot checkride the examiner was more than a little surprised when I didn’t know much about my car engine. It was a typical late 90s Honda Civic. The reason my generation typically didn’t get into cars is that we simply couldn’t work on them like past generations did. They have become so much more complex you need a ton of experience before you can preform even routine maintenance so the barrier of entry is steeper.
On the other hand, I wouldn’t mind a chance to get my hands on a black 1982 Pontiac Trans Am.
Like Johsua, I do not own a special car for every day´s use, just a humble little Opel Meriva. Instead, I got some really fast (and not too cheap) recumbent bikes and trikes that get all my attention and that I use for every suitable errand. You have to know your priorities.
I’m currently waiting for a new car (it’s on order, but will be another week or two), which will be both *the* most economical car with a purely internal combustion engine drive train currently on the market (claims 80+ mpg, or 3 L/100 km, tested to actually achieve 4 L/100km), and also so far the only compact hatchback with maximum score for low emissions from the ADAC. It’s still 100 hp and 254 Nm, which is pretty ok for a compact.
It’s a Diesel, but conforms to the new strict Euro 6 regulations, and apparently has been independently tested to actually stay reasonably within the NOx emission limits.
It will save me a couple hundred Euros every month on my long weekly commute (450 km each way).
It’s a Peugeot 208 BlueHDI 100.
Joshua, another possible reason we don’t care as much about (car) engines as previous generations did (if that’s even true), might be that they have become so incredibly reliable that we just don’t need to know anything about them, and drive for decades without them ever breaking down.
Now that we’re retired, all we need is a truck to pull our camping trailer (caravan) and carry our R/C model planes. :-). Don’t need to go fast!
I wasn’t in to cars but then my wife an I inherited a 1986 Alfa Romeo Spider. Now we know the mechanic and local tow company very well but love our occasional weekend outings with the top down.
I currently have a 2014 Honda CR-V LX. Pretty cheap and quiet.
I stopped working on cars when they got rid of carburetors.
I miss my 1976 Ford LTD. That thing was a tank! But it got terrible gas mileage.